Randomized controlled trial of prenatal zinc supplementation and fetal bone growth.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Fetal measures were analyzed longitudinally to evaluate differences in trends of fetal growth by supplement type, and within-subject correlations were taken into account.

Why It Was Studied

Maternal zinc deficiency is relatively common in developing countries, but its consequences for fetal growth are not established.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 242 women were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, both men and women.

The researchers conducted a double-masked, randomized trial among 242 pregnant Peruvian women in an impoverished shantytown in Lima, Peru.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized and double-blind study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Blinding on both sides kept the women and researchers unaware of who received Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

The researchers measured fetal head circumference, biparietal diameter, abdominal circumference, and femur diaphysis length at 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, and 38 wk of gestation.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Anemia, Iron-Deficiency, Bone Development, Bone and Bones, Dietary Supplements, Femur, Folic Acid and Gestational Age.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and double-blind study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in 242 women.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2004 (The American journal of clinical nutrition), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc compound page, all human trials.